Outer Limits 4x4 Board

how reliable are these old camrys and magna;s.. looking to spend about 4 grand for mum to get something to run about in, and want to make the purchase worthwhile. looking at probably a mid 80's one. she was after a Ea or Eb falcon, but they have head issues we have been told... so how do these two stack up against the falcon reliability wise, and what should i look out for.

she doesn't want anything with a holden badge (except maybe the old holden apollo's, which were camrys anyway) or anything corrolla sized...

and this is general 4x4 tech/discussion how

Never buy a magna - ever.

camry would be the only option between Magna and Camry - EB series II falcon was a good car.

Cars not to buy

Magna
Camira

My sister was a hard head mitsubishi lover , and was forever spending big bucks getting the the rubbish repaired ,breaking down at the worst time extra , I fixed them occasionly , one day she asked why i always have buy fords for the missus , Its simple they keep going with even poor maintenance , the young blokes are more interested in knocking off holdens , and now days they only cost a little more to run fuel wise but heaps less mechanically. She brought a old eb falcon , she has owned it for about 2 years hasn't given her a prob i say Arrrrrrh

Larry.

EB Falcon = head gasket replacement almost every service.

And yeah, like Grimbo said, "general 4x4 Tech" ?????

Your lucky to see any on the road any more. There can only be 1 reason for that :)

Havn't you guy's got a zook thread to pad in

Larry

Camry, camry , camry. I have 93 wagon, efficient, never breaks great to drive. (2.2L)
Love it.

who's PADing?

Every post here has relayed information relevant to the subject that should by all accounts be located elsewhere.

Mates got a Camry with over 200k on it still running fine.

Mum had a Magna which needed a rebuild at 110k (traded it on a Falcon instead).

Camry- but get whatever you choose checked over....

BTW even EL Falcons had head problems (amongst many other things.)

sierrajim wrote:who's PADing?

Every post here has relayed information relevant to the subject that should by all accounts be located elsewhere.

No wonder the old regulers don/t post here anymore You know what This means / Having abit of fun / Taking the piss ect ect
On a serious note where would you sugest he post it ?
On the general chit chat where frog shit news items posted at a rate faster then dial up can display the screens are, It would be pushed to the second page in the inkling of an eye.

PAD






Note: that was taking the piss

go the camry. my mums got a 92 wagon. its the perfect mums car. never had a problem in the 10 years shes owned it.

sorry for t hat, i thought about chit chat, but again, thought it wouldn't stand out against croc wrestling and superman's death. i know it's not 4x4, but it's a knowlege bank none the less, and one less influenced by bias as a whole (instead of posting it on a camry or a magna site). the magna's look like a good little package, shame people here don't rate them. i'll try to steer her towards a camry.

bad_religion_au wrote:sorry for t hat, i thought about chit chat, but again, thought it wouldn't stand out against croc wrestling and superman's death. i know it's not 4x4, but it's a knowlege bank none the less, and one less influenced by bias as a whole (instead of posting it on a camry or a magna site). the magna's look like a good little package, shame people here don't rate them. i'll try to steer her towards a camry.

It's not that I don't rate them - it is that they are piles of sh*t.

Every block cracks, the have head dramas, their engines totally sh*t themselves, the autos are junk.

Stick with 'yota (it pains me to say it) but as toyota themselves say - boring yet reliable cars.

Tom

cool. i'll try to talk her out of the magna. she saw some she liked (first car other than a falcon that she has liked). camry i'll try.

any other suggestions. about 4 grand (tops) to spend (probably at dealers cause she needs finance) must not be corrolla/ laser small, must not have a holden badge, must be reliable and ROADWORTHY for the price. what else fits that description, apart from comodoor < not a chance, magne < again, people have problems with these, camry <leaning that way, seems to be less around in the $$ bracket, uphill shitfight to get her to see it this way, falcon< depends on year.

xf or below she thinks is too old (her XE just shat itself) and won't trust it to drive anywhere in it, EA, EB < heard horror stories about these, most my dyed in the wool ford mates say they'd buy the equivelent commodoor over these cars... so that's saying something.

any falcon newer is $$$, or no roadworthy.

so anything else that fits the description

oh, and i even tried suggesting a suzuki sierra. she thought about it for a couple of minutes ... there you go 4x4 tech at last... she's been driving the hj45 to work, which is funny considering she's 4 foot 10.

My girlfriend until recently had an 87 camry wagon which she paid $3750 for and it was a ripper. It used bugger all fuel and was actually quite comfortable to drive. She now doesn't have it because she crashed it and her old man is trying to bring it back to shape. She now drives a new barina which has had more problems under warranty than anything else so far...

My mum until recently had a 92 magna. It was an excellent car until it got to about 7 years old then started to really deteriorate rapidly. It was traded this year for a new lancer and we couldn't get higher than $900 for the trade which i though was a blatent rip off.

Anyway, to put it into perspective - a 92 magna serviced by the books, only driven by mum with reasonable klm on it got about $1000 on trade. The 87 camry with no power steering or electrics etc was worth about $3000 (before the crash).

After driving both these vehicles extensively, the Camry will last longer and be more sturdy. HOWEVER the magna felt safer, had more poke, handled better, was more comfortable and was much more predictable onroad which the camry was not (maybe because the camry was a wagon...i dunno).

Remember, at that point in their life Magna's were like Kia's are now (very new and cheap) and Camry's were like Magna's are now - established and proven.

cheers for that. the reason i wondered about the magna's was cause now they have a decent rep... but i thought hang on no one talks about the old ones.

the camrys, well everyone quotes how reliable etc they are...

whatever you do dont buy the old style magna... my missus had one she bought of her parents and it had continual problems... the car was meticulously serviced on time but developed minor problems which kept enlarging into big problems.. also the early magnas are very easy to cook as the water pump runs off a separate belt to the alternator and has no warning light when it breaks....unless your mum watches the guages when she drives the motor will be dead in minutes

if you want hassle-free ownership, take the 'yota over the magna every time. Our Glamrys had no problems (usual story), every magna owner I know says theyre bags of shit. If you have to get an 80's magna, get a manual (autos have a b-a-a-a-d reputation) with a stereo, so when it inevitably does shit itself, you can at least listen to the stereo while youre waiting for the tow truck.
Unless its yet another mitsubishi electical fault.
The magna is teh suck.
I'd sell you my camry, but.. hmm... no i wouldnt.

Well your lucky to see the old ones on the road. I think that speaks for itself.

If you were looking at alternatives,

A late '80s Mazda 626 would be a good buy. You can get the super delux versions with electric everything, cruise control and heaps of other things like a 6 way adjustable drivers seat. They are good for over 300,000Km
nice in a manual - cheap to fix and very much over engineered.


They would be cheap now $4K for a nice one - find one with under 200,000 on it would be sweet - there should be heaps of these around.

Some probs with these were,

They break engine mounts, cv boots (both simple cheap fixes if you DIY)
Aircon is good once you have serviced it up and it is working.
Clutch should be good for 150,000K at a time and would cost you $400
fitted.


If you budget streaches a bit further or you are good at hunting around find an early '90s 2.2L EFI 626 - they were a great car - again all the bells and whistles and go really well - more than adquate for a run around
and are really sweet on the highway.

Tom

An old Magna would be good value when compared with Camry.

You won't find an old Camry for under $3000, you could prolly buy ten Magnas for that at the clearing auctions.

I used to think they were piles of cr*p too, but I've had such a good run out of my $500 86 Magna has changed my mind. I got it at damaged auction- these things are so worthless that damage to one panel means they are written off, and it was immaculate and drives like new (it had dented rear bumper).

If it blows up I'm not going to cry about it.

I think if you look hard you could get your mum an immaculate vehicle for less than 2 grand. Just give it a sevice and let her drive it into the ground. If it dies, take it to the dump and get another.

They have to be the cheapest things on the road, and they drive really nice.

slosh wrote:An old Magna would be good value when compared with Camry.

You won't find an old Camry for under $3000, you could prolly buy ten Magnas for that at the clearing auctions.

I used to think they were piles of cr*p too, but I've had such a good run out of my $500 86 Magna has changed my mind. I got it at damaged auction- these things are so worthless that damage to one panel means they are written off, and it was immaculate and drives like new (it had dented rear bumper).

If it blows up I'm not going to cry about it.

I think if you look hard you could get your mum an immaculate vehicle for less than 2 grand. Just give it a sevice and let her drive it into the ground. If it dies, take it to the dump and get another.

They have to be the cheapest things on the road, and they drive really nice.

True,

for me, I don't mind having to fix things up all the time and gettings stranded from time to time and have to pop the bonnet and put in some work to get her going.

But I wouldn't want my wife/mum/sister/girlfriend (choose whichever is appropriate for you here) to be stuck because they are driving a piece of sh*t car that could break down at a moments notice.

Tom

agreed , if it was for me, i wouldn't mind stuff going wrong all the time. but her, well that's a different story.

as for driving it into the ground then getting another, it's not really an option, she can't really afford to get one, let alone a couple...

the 626 is an idea, i was actually thinking about one, until a girl i live with put the piston through the block last week, but if there is a bit of support for them here, might be worth a second look

what do people think about the old volvo's? or old BMW's (like 70's) i'm guessing parts are expensive

bad_religion_au wrote:
what do people think about the old volvo's? or old BMW's (like 70's) i'm guessing parts are expensive

Volvos aren't bad cars it is just that the owners (as a collective) never
do any maintenance on them - so generally they haven't had much work on them and require a bit of attention. Find one with a good service record and you will be on to a good thing.

BMW - well I don't like them as a rule, mercedes price tag without the build quality. They can be pricks of things - but some others go for hundreds of thousands of Ks. I wouldn't buy one - I'd buy a merc.

I reckon the mazda is the go - most reliable car I ever owned and I could fix pretty much everything on it myself, heaps of parts at the wreckers
and the aftermarket parts were there - there is also the ability to buy ford parts for it to save a bit.

Tom

sierrajim wrote:EB Falcon = head gasket replacement almost every service.

And yeah, like Grimbo said, "general 4x4 Tech" ?????

And you have actually owned one or talking crap from I heard from so and so

Put 220,000Lkms on a EB11 4.0L complete with cam exhaust and mild head work, was looked after but was also driven damn hard not a single head gasket issue, even after overheating the sucker due to a mechanic screwing up the thermostat install

AussieCJ7 wrote:

sierrajim wrote:EB Falcon = head gasket replacement almost every service.

And yeah, like Grimbo said, "general 4x4 Tech" ?????

And you have actually owned one or talking crap from I heard from so and so

Put 220,000Lkms on a EB11 4.0L complete with cam exhaust and mild head work, was looked after but was also driven damn hard not a single head gasket issue, even after overheating the sucker due to a mechanic screwing up the thermostat install

while i have heard of soeme EB11's without the problem, majority of EA, EB cars i have known have had at least one headgasket problem, and these were very popular cars amongst our family and neighbours, and among the kids i went to school with as a first car.

is it usually just the head gasket, or is the head at risk? i have heard both from different sources. would the head gasket replacement be a similar job to doing a head gasket on a toyota diesel?